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Summary for September 6 - September 10, 2010:
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Monday, September 6, 2010

Labor Day. There is no story.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Top Story

Obama sets out $50B U.S transportation infrastructure plan

President Barack Obama on Monday proposed a six-year plan to rehabilitate the nation's transportation infrastructure with an initial $50 billion to help spur an economy that's lost jobs for three straight months.

Obama announced the program to fix the nation's roads, railways and runways to union families at a Labor Day rally in Milwaukee, the White House said in a statement.

Two months before congressional midterm elections, Obama will call called for the formation of an "infrastructure bank" and request money to rebuild 150,000 miles (241,400 kilometers) of roads, construct and maintain 4,000 miles of rail, and overhaul 150 miles of runways, the statement said.

-Bloomberg Businessweek

Read the full story: www.businessweek.com

Alameda Corridor costly for ports

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are a cargo powerhouse, handling about 40% of the country's imported goods and making possible hundreds of thousands of well-paying freight-related jobs.

Such a record would be impossible if not for the Alameda Corridor, a $2.4-billion engineering marvel that allows freight trains to travel the 20 miles from the ports to the transcontinental yards near downtown Los Angeles in 30 minutes, compared with four hours previously. With the help of the rail expressway, the twin ports moved nearly 16 million containers at the height of the international trade boom in 2006, up from 9.7 million in 2001, the last full year before the corridor opened.

But for all of its prowess in speeding up the flow of the nation's Asian imports, the rail route may become a financial burden for the ports it was supposed to help.

The corridor was intended to pay for itself through user fees on each shipping container, and for many years the setup worked, even generating a financial surplus. But port cargo is down sharply from its 2006 peak because of the worldwide recession, and the payments on debt that was taken on to build the route will rise — sometimes steeply — through 2033.

-Los Angeles Times

Read the full story: mobile.latimes.com

DP World now third largest ports company in world

Dubai Port World (DP World) has become the world's third-biggest ports operator, according to Drewry Shipping Consultants.

The Dubai World subsidiary has moved past APM Terminals to third place after handling 31.5m twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs, or containers) compared to the Hague-based firm, which handled 31.1million TEUs, it said in a report.

DP World holds 6.7% of the global market share, sitting just behind Hutchison Port Holdings, which has 6.8%.

The top spot was taken by Singapore's PSA International, with a 9.5% share of the market.

- Economic Times (India)

Read the full story: economictimes.indiatimes.com

Maersk uses green fuel in Hong Kong

Aiming to reduce noxious fumes in one of the most densely populated parts of Asia, the Danish shipping giant Maersk Line said Tuesday that its ships would switch to low-sulfur fuel when at berth in Hong Kong — a move it hopes will help speed up much-needed regulation in Asia.

Maersk, which makes about 850 port calls annually to Hong Kong, said the voluntary switch from cheap, polluting bunker fuel to the cleaner fuel, which costs about $250 more per ton than bunker fuel, would cost the company an extra $1 million per year.

- NY Times

Read the full story: www.nytimes.com

UPS cargo plane crash kills two in Dubai

A Boeing 747-400 cargo plane operated by United Parcel Service Inc crashed shortly after takeoff into a military compound near Dubai's airport on Friday, killing two crew members, authorities said.

U.S. parcel delivery company UPS confirmed the crash of the plane, which was en route to Cologne, Germany.

The aircraft caught fire, hit a covered parking lot, then bounced and crashed, the source said, adding that there were no injuries on the ground. Smoke was billowing from the base, a Reuters witness reported.

-Reuters

Read the full story: www.reuters.com

 

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Top Story

U.S. intermodal map shifts East

Norfolk Southern Railway will open its Heartland Corridor intermodal corridor this week, cutting a new path through the Appalachian Mountains that may change the landscape of shipping in eastern United States and expand efforts to push highway freight onto rails.

The effort to accommodate double-stack train height is Norfolk Southern's last step in a set of construction projects totaling $321 million. Investments and upgrades moving forward the Heartland route – a diagonal line from Virginia ports to Midwest retail – will, support national transportation goals of reducing highway congestion and emissions and making the U.S. freight supply chain more competitive for global trade.

Combined with rival CSX Transportation's National Gateway corridor, and Norfolk Southern's own Crescent Corridor – a line from the Mississippi Delta to New York – and its partnerships with Kansas City Southern Railway and Union Pacific Railway that provide cross-country links, East Coast rail is expanding. The breadth of this new map, and its links to the expected Panama Canal cargo increase, may change the way freight is transported in the U.S.

- WCSC (Charleston, S.C.)

Read the full story: www.live5news.com

Citigroup ships LNG cargo to Asia

Citigroup Inc. has loaded a previously imported liquefied-natural-gas cargo at the Freeport LNG terminal in Texas for export to Asia, according to a shipping tracking firm.

The tanker carrying the cargo, Excalibur, left the port on Sept. 3, Mark Mallett, a Freeport LNG spokesman, said in a phone interview, without disclosing the name of the exporter and the destination port.

The Citigroup-chartered tanker is “en route to Asia,” according to Steve Johnson, an analyst at Waterborne Energy Inc., a Houston-based provider of LNG shipping data. Citigroup declined to comment about the cargo.

Higher gas prices in Asia and Europe have attracted LNG away from the U.S., with banks such as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Barclays Plc increasingly involved in global trading.

- Bloomberg

Read the full story: www.bloomberg.com

Horizon Lines receives 2010 Quest for Quality Award

Horizon Lines, Inc, the nation's leading domestic ocean shipping and integrated logistics company, has been awarded a 2010 Quest for Quality Award from Logistics Management magazine, ranking in the top three for honors in the ocean carrier category.

Horizon ranked third in the ocean carrier category. Wallenius Wilhelmsen and Matson Navigation ranked first and second, respectively.

Horizon Lines scored above average in all areas--customer service, on-time performance, value, information technology, equipment and operations. Logistics Management, a monthly publication for supply chain professionals, conducts the Quest for Quality survey every year, asking qualified buyers of logistics and transportation services to evaluate their service partners.

- Biz Journals (press release)

Source: www.bizjournals.com

Horizon Lines receives 2010 Quest for Quality Award

Horizon Lines, Inc, the nation's leading domestic ocean shipping and integrated logistics company, has been awarded a 2010 Quest for Quality Award from Logistics Management magazine, ranking in the top three for honors in the ocean carrier category.

Horizon ranked third in the ocean carrier category. Wallenius Wilhelmsen and Matson Navigation ranked first and second, respectively.

Horizon Lines scored above average in all areas--customer service, on-time performance, value, information technology, equipment and operations. Logistics Management, a monthly publication for supply chain professionals, conducts the Quest for Quality survey every year, asking qualified buyers of logistics and transportation services to evaluate their service partners.

- Biz Journals (press release)

Source: www.bizjournals.com

China extends railway to Iran

Horizon Lines, Inc, the nation's leading domestic ocean shipping and integrated logistics company, has been awarded a 2010 Quest for Quality Award from Logistics Management magazine, ranking in the top three for honors in the ocean carrier category.

Horizon ranked third in the ocean carrier category. Wallenius Wilhelmsen and Matson Navigation ranked first and second, respectively.

Horizon Lines scored above average in all areas--customer service, on-time performance, value, information technology, equipment and operations. Logistics Management, a monthly publication for supply chain professionals, conducts the Quest for Quality survey every year, asking qualified buyers of logistics and transportation services to evaluate their service partners.

- Biz Journals (press release)

Source: www.bizjournals.com

Bomb derails freight cars in Russia

On September 7 at 11:30 (Moscow time), a bomb exploded under a freight train on the railway haul Kizlyar-Ulanhol in Dagestan. The operation of trains stopped. According to preliminary reports, the explosion made six cars run off the rails, two of them overturned, and the locomotive was badly damaged. There have been no casualties.
 
Already four trains have been stopped, including two freight and two passenger trains – Baku-Tyumen and Baku-Moscow. It is reported that the train operation will not be restored before the evening. A repair team is currently busy with this matter.
 
The explosion took place on the 98 kilometer, not far from Kizlyar. According to some sources, the exploded train was heading from Astrakhan to Azerbaijan and transporting grain.

- BCM News

 Source: http://www.newsbcm.com

 

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Top Story

Obama sets out $50B U.S transportation infrastructure plan

UP's CFO sees true Peak Season

Union Pacific Corp. (UNP) is standing by its view that intermodal volume is building toward a peak fall shipping season, although Chief Financial Officer Rob Knight acknowledged industry uncertainty regarding the trend.

The National Retail Federation has predicted that July--rather than the traditional month of October--will turn out to be the 2010 peak for imported intermodal containers of consumer products and other goods through U.S. ports.

The trade group has said many retailers appear to have stocked up early, partly to avoid possible shipping delays caused by capacity constraints later in the year.

But Knight said his railroad has continued to see a steady rise in weekly carloadings.

He cautioned that peak season for imported intermodal containers may turn out to be "more of a bump" than a "historical, traditional spike."

A CSX Corp. (CSX) executive said at a separate conference Wednesday that CSX also expects a peak fall season, with strength in intermodal shipments continuing through the second half of the year.

Union Pacific said Thursday that its overall third-quarter freight volume through August is up 13%, compared to the same period last year. The year-over-year growth marks a slowdown from the second quarter's 18% rate, although Knight called the trend solid regardless.

The railroad's intermodal volume is up 24% so far in the third quarter, compared to the same period last year.

-WSJ

For the full story: online.wsj.com

Port of Portland top exec gets raise, declines bonus

The Port of Portland Commission gave Executive Director Bill Wyatt a glowing job evaluation Wednesday, and raised his salary to $321,000 a year.

The move comes amid an upward swing in the Port, which relies mostly on revenues from running Portland International Airport and income from Columbia River barge shipments. The agency was hit hard in 2009 by the global economic slowdown that sparked a falloff in air passengers and international trade.

Last year, Wyatt gave himself a 10 percent pay cut as part of salary reductions and furloughs throughout the organization, but the current raise is a 7 percent increase from his salary before that reduction.

The four-member leadership committee of the commission also wanted to give Wyatt a $29,210 bonus, but Wyatt declined.
 
-The Oregonian

For the full story: www.oregonlive.com

Singapore government's logistics unit out to raise $3 bil

The Government of Singapore Investment Corp. started talks with potential corporate investors for the $3 billion initial public offering of its logistics unit, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

GIC has identified about 50 so-called cornerstone investors including real estate and hedge funds, and some international wealthy individuals, one of the people said, declining to be identified as discussions are private. The warehouse unit, called Global Logistic Properties, started pre-marketing the sale to analysts in Singapore and Hong Kong today and is expected to start trading in Singapore Oct. 15, the people said.

The IPO may raise as much as $3 billion, the people said, making it the city-state’s biggest first-time sale since Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.’s initial offering in 1993. GIC, manager of more than $100 billion of Singapore’s foreign exchange reserves, bought the assets from ProLogis, the world’s largest owner of warehouses, for $1.3 billion in December 2008.

Global Logistic operates in 25 markets in Asia outside Singapore, according to its website. In China, the company manages 51 logistics parks in 18 cities, totaling 4.4 million square meters (47 million square feet) at the end of June. It runs 69 logistics facilities in seven cities in Japan.

-Bloomberg

For the full story: www.bloomberg.com

China becomes second biggest importer

China saw its import value surge 47.2% year on year to US$766.56 billion in the first seven months of this year, substantially exceeding the 11.6% growth rate of export value, and becomes the world's second largest importer, according to a report from the China Import and Export Forum held in Beijing on Monday.

China's domestic market size is expected to reach US$2 trillion this year, much more than its value of total exports, said Chong Quan, deputy China international trade representative.       

Reportedly, China will increase imports from countries with which China has a trade surplus by taking measures of remaining low tariff at 9.8%.
 
China also aims to increase imports of products the country is short of, especially advanced technology and key equipment.

-China Knowledge

 

U.S. Marines retake German ship from pirates

U.S. Marines stormed a German-owned ship seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden and rescued the crew, the first time an international taskforce set up in 2002 has recaptured a hijacked vessel.

Nine pirates were arrested and none of the crew of the Magellan Star or the 24 Marines were hurt, the U.S. Navy said in a statement on its website today. The raid took place about 85 miles southeast of Mukallah, Yemen, according to Jeremy Olver, a Bahrain-based spokesman for the Combined Maritime Forces, which includes about three dozen ships from at least 10 countries.

The Magellan Star sent a distress call early yesterday and a Turkish frigate attached to the forces was first on the scene, the U.S. Navy said. Two other warships arrived later.

The Marines are from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s Maritime Raid Force aboard USS Dubuque. The operation was the first recapturing of a ship by the combined forces, Olver said.

The Magellan Star, a 133-meter (436-foot) general-cargo ship, was sailing to Vung Tau in Vietnam from Europe, according to AISlive Ltd. ship-tracking data on Bloomberg.

-Bloomberg

For the full story: www.bloomberg.com

Friday, September 10, 2010

Top Story

Virginia port and labor face contract deadline end of month

The local contract between the employers of port labor and roughly 1,800 dockworkers expires at the end of September and negotiations are continuing, port and union officials say.

The proposed new agreement would extend to Sept. 30, 2012.
In June, longshoremen voted down two labor agreements that would have meant an average pay cut of about 36 percent – to $16 an hour – for two kinds of work but would have given hundreds of idled workers the chance to get back on the job.

Workers rejected a pay cut for handling “break-bulk” shipments – noncontainerized cargo that is packed in or on bales, drums, crates or pallets – and for work on an expanded barge service ferrying containers between Norfolk and Richmond.

Port officials hope the barge service will grow to include an inner-harbor shuttle ferrying containers between terminals in Hampton Roads.

In June, top port managers said they want to draw more such cargo to the port, creating more work, but to make that happen would require wage cuts in the 30 percent range from labor to enable Hampton Roads to compete with other ports.

-Virginian-Pilot

For the full story: hamptonroads.com

Port of Montreal reaches agreement with longshore force

The Maritime Employers Association says it has reached a retroactive four-year agreement with the longshoremen's union at the Port of Montreal, ending Dec. 2012.

The contract provides wage increases of 1.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent and will be voted on by union members "shortly," the association said Friday.

About 900 longshoremen were involved in a five-day lockout at the Port by the employer in July, though work resumed five days later under an interim agreement.

The retroactive agreement would give workers flexibility and a voluntary retirement option.

The Port of Montreal says it generates spinoffs of some $2 billion annually, and creates more than 17,600 direct and indirect jobs.

-Winnipeg Free Press

For the story source: www.winnipegfreepress.com

Sugar prices climb while ships are delayed out of Brazil’s largest port

Raw-sugar futures for October delivery rose 0.47 cent, or 2.1 percent, to 22.9 cents a pound in New York. A close at that level would leave the price up 11 percent this week, the biggest increase since October 2009.

Earlier, sugar touched 23 cents, the highest level since March 1.

Refined-sugar futures for December delivery advanced $8.70, or 1.5 percent to $578 on Liffe in London.

Shipments from Brazil’s largest port have been delayed by heavy rains and a rising number of vessels. Ships will wait a record 29 days before loading this month at the Santos port in Sao Paulo state, research firm Santos Associados Consultoria Ltda said yesterday. The country is the world’s largest producer.

“Inventories are very low and you have these export problems,” Tobias Merath, the head of commodity research at Credit Suisse AG, said today by phone from Zurich. “This is driving up the price at the moment.”

 -Bloomberg

For the full story: www.bloomberg.com

Hundreds of food containers held at Vietnam ports

Hundreds of food containers are being kept at HCM City ports as their owners have failed to produce papers, including food-safety certification, as required by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Cat Lai Port alone has kept more than 500 imported containers of frozen meat, dried food and materials for seafood processing.
Dozens of containers are piled up at other ports in the city. Each container weighs between 23 and 25 tonnes.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Circular 25 said that imported frozen meat, dried food and materials for seafood processing must have food-safety certificates as well as lists of production businesses issued by a responsible authority of each country.

The circular, which became effective on September 1, also asked businesses to have licenses for every import shipment and safety certification for imported food issued by the Vietnamese authorities.

Doan Ngoc Tho, who owns a frozen food import company in HCM City, said he did not have these papers and could not finish customs clearance procedures.

More than 20 food containers of his company have been kept at Cat Lai Port for a week.

Many company representatives said that Viet Nam had no office responsible for issuing certification of food safety for imported food.
They contacted the ministries of Health as well as Agriculture and Rural Development, and both said they were not responsible.

-Vietnam News

For the full story: www.dztimes.net/post

UP engineer’s arm amputated after derailment

Doctors amputated the arm of a train engineer to free him from the wreckage of his derailed Union Pacific train that had rear-ended a slower freight train on tracks near Interstate 10 in Fontana.

Two other people were injured. All were taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. The collision closed eastbound freeway lanes for several hours early Friday.

Shortly before midnight Thursday, west of Cherry Avenue, the Union Pacific train heading west hit the slower-moving freight train, which was carrying a load of I-beams, according to media reports.

The beams went through the engine of the UP train, pinning the engineer. Doctors were summoned to the collision to perform the amputation. Six cars derailed in the collision.

Several hundred gallons of propylene glycol -- a nonhazardous chemical used in automobile anti-freeze and airport de-icing machines -- spilled. Crews worked early Friday to clean it up.

-LA Times

For the full story: latimesblogs.latimes.com

 


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